


Paper Snowflakes

by SilverAmoebasquid



Series: STZ Week 2017 [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Day 4: Childhood, I witnessed this a few months ago and I just HAD to write this, Kat and I watch them sometimes and it's kiiinda adorable, LET ME TELL THE STORY BEHIND THIS OMIGOSH., So I have these neighbor kids right, also because the world is warming up and im angsty, bring winter back HELP, not exactly this but it inspired this and it was great, stz-week, who act kinda how I'd imagine wakatoshi satori and eita to be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-10-09 11:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10411371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverAmoebasquid/pseuds/SilverAmoebasquid
Summary: For elementary school kids, there isn't much more frustrating than not being able to do something that everyone else can do. But if there's one thing Ushijimacando, it's persevere until he's achieved his goals!





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [miracleboysatori](https://archiveofourown.org/users/miracleboysatori/gifts).



Wakatoshi exhaled slowly and adjusted the folded piece of paper in his hands. He shifted slightly, leaning against the white fence and felt dying grass brush against his ankles where his pants were already becoming too short for him as he pulled his legs underneath him.

Autumn had crept in so slowly that no one had noticed summer slowly coming to an end until they felt the crisp breeze on their cheeks and leaves, turned red and gold, swirled across the streets and through the air.

As was customary, after escaping the confines of the elementary school across the street, Wakatoshi had followed his best friends back toward their three houses, all within a block of each other. They congregated in Satori’s next door neighbor’s yard because they had a big tree that was fun to climb on occasion.

Eita had spotted a little brown rabbit silently watching them from the grass and immediately Satori dropped his backpack onto the sidewalk and raced after it.

Eita hesitated for a half a second before following suit.

Wakatoshi paused and watched them. There was no way his two friends were going to be able to catch up with the creature but that didn’t stop them from making a valiant effort. Wakatoshi faintly thought about joining them, but decided the rabbit was probably scared out of its mind and he didn’t want to be a part of that. Besides, he had something to work on. He plunked himself down in the neighbor’s grass next to the fence and pulled his jacket closer around his shoulders to keep the bite of the cloudy afternoon away.

He tried to keep his backpack organized, but he couldn’t always help the bent edges of papers peeking out of the tops of folders. He frowned and attempted to stuff worksheets and drawings back into their homes, but only succeeded in crinkling the pages further. He sighed and elected to ignore the mess, taking out a fresh sheet of white paper and folding it into fourths. He rummaged in his pencil bag and pulled out a pair of red safety scissors.

 

Wakatoshi inhaled again and set the blade of his scissors to the paper. He couldn’t fathom why scissors just wouldn’t fit correctly on his left hand, though he knew that was the reason he was having so much trouble with this task.

In school that day, they had been making paper snowflakes though Wakatoshi had spent most of the time staring at other students as they went through several sheets of paper in the short amount of time they were given for the activity, churning out paper snowflakes. The patterns and symmetry sparked in Wakatoshi’s mind and he furiously wanted to play a bigger role in decorating the windows of the colorful classroom for the onset of winter.

He glanced over at Satori sitting next to him. He was moving faster than anyone else. His snowflakes weren’t the most elegant in the classroom, but Wakatoshi still watched with amazement when his best friend unfolded the paper and the diamonds and triangles let light filter through in perfect patterns.

On Satori’s other side, Eita was also hard at work. His snowflake making method was slower than Satori’s and much neater though he wasn’t exactly a scissor-smith either, unlike a few students in the class that Wakatoshi was also watching. Wakatoshi wanted to create the best, neatest, most intricate snowflake out of anyone in the class, but that didn’t dismiss the fact that he was left-handed and scissors were not his friend.

A paper snowflake that took him ten minutes didn’t even look as good as one Satori rushed through in three minutes.

His uncontrollable scissors ripped through the center of his paper and his shoulders sagged. At this rate, he wasn’t even going to get one done to hang on the classroom window.

There was a quick, light tapping on Wakatoshi’s shoulder and he looked up to find Satori grinning at him.

“Here, Toshi, you can have one of mine!” Satori thrust one of his snowflakes in front of Wakatoshi.

Wakatoshi looked at it. It was a bit sloppy in its construction like the others in Satori’s growing pile of snowflakes and it had so many holes cut into it, Wakatoshi was afraid to tear it.

Eita looked over as well and though his stack of snowflakes wasn’t quite as extensive as Satori’s he offered one to Wakatoshi also.

“Toshi, you look sad!” he said.

“Just...” Wakatoshi sifted through his limited vocabulary for the right word. “Frustrated.” Wakatoshi pursed his lips and looked at the two snowflakes from his best friends, then back over at his own results: one you could barely even call a snowflake and one that was ripped in the center. He wanted to give his friends some of his creations as well, but he wanted to give them something he could be proud of, not these.”

“I don’t know what frustrated means but if it’s like sad then you can have  _ all _ my snowflakes!” Satori said happily, scooping up his pile and flinging them in the air.

“Satori, please don’t throw your snowflakes,” the teacher reprimanded. “Please clean up your area.”

Eita snickered softly as Satori’s face fell and he leaned out of his chair to pick up his scattered snowflakes.

Wakatoshi bit his lip and handed over the torn snowflake to the teacher. Everyone had to put one of their creations up in the window, though admiring everyone else’s creations, he was still upset that he couldn’t compare. Did they make scissors for left-handed people? Did they make safety scissors for left-handed people? He didn’t think he’d be allowed to use adult scissors even if they did fit his hand.

 

Wakatoshi adjusted himself in the grass that afternoon and tried cutting a circle into his blank snowflake slate. It came out lopsided and he frowned. The ill-fitting scissors hurt his hand and his efforts weren’t going to produce any clean shapes. He pulled the two snowflakes that Satori and Eita had given him from his pocket and examined them. Eita’s had a ring of perfect diamonds around the edge that make Wakatoshi even more frustrated. He couldn’t even cut a straight line, but Eita didn’t seem to have any trouble effortlessly snipping pristine shapes out of his paper. Wakatoshi shoved his less-than-perfect snowflake beginning back into his backpack and looked up.

Eita and Satori were walking back toward him, tired of chasing the rabbit.

“What are you doing, Wakatoshi?” Eita asked first.

Wakatoshi was about to tell them he was trying to cut out snowflakes for them, but that wasn’t really the truth. Whatever it was that he was making, it definitely wasn’t good enough to be called a snowflake or a gift. “Just thinking about things,” Wakatoshi replied.

“What kinds-a things?” Satori jumped next to him, kneeling and focusing his gaze on Wakatoshi in case he had something insightful to say.

“A lot of things...” Wakatoshi replied. He might’ve gone on, but Satori chose that moment to lose focus and throw a pinecone at Eita, causing much yelling.

Wakatoshi watched as Eita sprang after Satori and they chased each other around the yard, Satori leaping onto the lowest branch of the neighbor’s tree. Wakatoshi wasn’t upset by the sudden departure, very used to his best friends’ short attention spans and affinity for bothering each other.

He pulled out another sheet of paper and folded it quickly, taking a deep breath before diving in with his scissors again. He held back the urge to quit when it wasn’t exactly what he was trying for. Instead, he finished it and unfolded it. It wasn’t quite as bad as the ones he’d managed in class, but it still didn’t measure up to Eita’s or even Satori’s.

But it was progress and he could be happy with progress. After all, he was only six years old. If he kept working at this, he could be a master snowflake-cutter by the time he was an adult.

He started a new one and it didn’t take as long as the first one to complete. Maybe he was getting better? He held his two works of art up to compare. Was the second one better than the first?

A yell tore Wakatoshi’s gaze away from his analysis and he saw Satori lying flat on his back in the grass.

Eita hopped off the low branch of the tree and ran over to Satori.

Wakatoshi hurried over as well.

Satori sat up quickly. “I’m okay!”

“Did you fall out of the tree?” Wakatoshi asked worriedly.

Satori grinned at him. “Yeah, but it’s okay! I wasn’t very high up and— What’s in your hands?”

Wakatoshi looked down, noticing that he hadn’t put down his snowflakes.

“Here.” Wakatoshi impulsively thrust the snowflakes in the direction of both his friends. He wasn’t sure if he was quite ready to be presenting them, but he couldn’t take back his action now.

But Wakatoshi only saw smiles on the faces of both his best friends.

“These are good, Wakatoshi!” Eita said, turning his snowflake over in his hands.

Satori looked up hopefully. “Toshi, are you giving these to us for borrows or for keeps?”

“Keeps,” Wakatoshi said with a soft smile. “They aren’t that good, but—”

Satori held his gift up against the dim autumn light. “I have to hang this up on my window in my room! Maybe if I do, we’ll get a snow day soon!!”

“Not if I hang mine up first, Satori!” Eita yelled. “Then  _ I’ll  _ be why we have a snow day!”

Wakatoshi watched his two friends sprint off to their houses and smiled before walking toward his own house to hang up the snowflakes Satori and Eita had given him as well.

**Author's Note:**

> While all of what I'm writing this week is dedicated to my lovely best friend Kat, this work is especially for her as watching the kids on my street do cute things like make paper snowflakes and climb trees is one thing that will always make me think of her. There are so many fun times we've had together and I'm looking forward to a lot more! This can never begin to encompass my love for Kat, but hey, girl, this one goes out to you.


End file.
